A man diagnosed with inoperable liver cancer just days after undergoing a seven-hour operation to save his life is urging people to ditch the taboo and check their bowel habits.

Steven Cook, 51, is calling on readers to visit their GP if they notice any abnormalities when they go to the toilet after he was given the devastating news that his condition can only be managed through chemotherapy.

The former council grass cutter decided to visit his local GP in November last year after he began to feel unwell, however test results for a viral infection were inconclusive.

Steven, from Goxhill, went back to his GP on January 10 who sent him straight to A&E where his situation was perilous.

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The next day he had his cancerous bowel removed following a seven-hour operation to save his life.

"My large bowel had a perforation and it was about to go so in a matter of time l could have collapsed and died," he said.

"My surgeon, Miss Kaur, saved my life but l was not aware at the time how close l had been to death.

"I ended up with an ileostomy, which is basically a fresh opening of the bowel at the front of the body.

Steven and his partner Jane Arnott have said thank you to Scunthorpe General Hospital for providing treatment to allow him to live as comfortably as possible

"When l was told and realised how desperate my operation had to be there was a mixture of relief that l was still alive but fear that the cancer had spread to my liver and I was unsure how this was going to affect my life from now on."

Tragically, Steven was indeed given the devastating news that he had inoperable liver cancer.

He is now receiving chemotherapy at hospital to reduce the spread of infected cells.

And despite having to undergo another seven-hour operation on his bowel following further complications, Steven is trying to stay positive and has chosen to speak out about his experience to spread awareness of a cancer which is third most common of cancers amongst men in the UK.

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"I was really a negative type of person with no self-confidence because the majority of life l had been obese until an operation a few years earlier to help reduce my weight," he said.

"I was very much a glass half empty sort of person and realised that to survive this l had to be a bit more selfish and become positive that l could fight this and not let the cancer beat me, so decided that that is what l must become.

1,262 different requests for surgery requiring special approval were made in North East Lincolnshire last year

"I can maintain that l have bad days and have been in very dark places but have remained as positive as l can be."

Before his initial operation on his cancerous bowel, Steven weighed 16-and-a-half stone.

Now he weighs just nine stone and faces intensive rounds of chemotherapy for the rest of his life.

"My diagnosis in March this year when I was fit enough to see the oncologist was that I had six months left to live if I had no chemotherapy. If I had chemo I was told three years of life would be good," he said.

"It is inoperable so it can only be managed. I have now had 11 cycles of chemo and CT scans show the tumour is shrinking. This is the best l can hope for.

"I am on chemo for the rest of my life or until something comes along to cure the cancer."